


New Dark Light

by yet_intrepid



Series: oh rise with me forever [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Rescue Missions, Slavery, Tatooine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:31:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5448341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yet_intrepid/pseuds/yet_intrepid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s how you stay alive, Anakin thinks, as he turns the corners of the Hutt palaces. This isn’t the first time he’s been a slave, and you learn. You learn how hard your body can work before it dies. You learn how far your spirits can sink before they drown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Dark Light

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from "Heel Turn 2" by the Mountain Goats. Anakin is fifteen here and Padmé is twenty, so I just want to note that any hints of romantic feelings on his part are one-sided at this time.

Three weeks into his recapture, Anakin finds himself alone—miraculously alone—in the corridors of the Hutt palaces.

The Gamorrean overseer sent him with a message, and he’s on his way back. That, too, is a miracle; Anakin has heard of too many slaves delivering production reports and ending the task dropped into a cage fight or strangled by a guard. He’s surprised he wasn’t sent with one earlier, honestly, given how much the overseer dislikes him. But she seems to have been placated by the fact that Anakin has tried make up for his insolence with usefulness.

It’s how you stay alive, Anakin thinks, as he turns the corners. This isn’t the first time he’s been a slave, and you learn. You learn how hard your body can work before it dies. You learn how far your spirits can sink before they drown.

For now, he slows his steps, figuring  he can risk his body a little. The overseer might knock him around for taking his time, but he just avoided a fight to the death and shudders are running through him, unbidden. He can’t seem to calm them, can’t shut down the panicked refrain in his head: _I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to die._

So against his better judgment, he closes his eyes a moment as he walks and pretends he can hear his mom shushing him, Padmé telling him it’s okay. Pretending he can hear them whisper his name. “Ani, Anakin—”

He opens his eyes, swings wildly. For a moment he thinks it’s all gotten to him; he’s getting so desperate that he thinks his imagination is reality, but then he sees a familiar form and he hears his name again.

“Anakin!”

It’s Padmé, sure as the suns, and Anakin feels his gut twist with loneliness, suddenly unsuppressed. She’s dressed like a bounty hunter, helmet tucked under her arm, and he wants to protect her because she shouldn’t be here, and he wants her to rescue him, too. Wants her to tell him he won’t die like this.

He doesn’t say anything. He can’t.

“Anakin,” she repeats, “it’s me. I came to get you out.”

He swallows.

“Anakin?” she says. She reaches to touch his shoulder.

But suddenly he hears voices coming around the turn in the corridor. He grabs her extended hand and pulls her towards a closet a few feet away, easing the door shut behind them as the voices get louder.

In the dark light that seeps through the door crack, they are face-to-face. He can see her: more beautiful than ever, smiling at him, worried. But he can also hear the voices.

“…remotely programmed to the city-wide power generators.”

“Seems ineffective.”

Padmé shifts. “Slave trader,” she whispers. “Off-world slave trader.”

“How so?” says the first voice.

“Head electrician,” Anakin tells Padmé. Her arm slips from his grasp and her hand moves into his.

“Well,” says the slave trader, “what about people who travel with their slaves?”

“The chips can be programmed to charge from the transmitter instead,” the electrician says. “But that’s a liability if the transmitter powers down.”

“And what if the city powers down?” retorts the slave trader. “Surely you know what backwards technology you’re working with, here. Don’t you ever have outages?”

“Hmph,” says the electrician. “Look, our system may not be foolproof, but it’s fully functional. Escapes are almost unheard of…”

Anakin and Padmé look at each other. He can still feel himself shaking, but she is there, close and warm, and he finds his courage.

“You can’t get me out yet,” he tells her.

She stares at him incredulously. “But we just learned—”

Anakin shakes his head. “Padmé, the city’s generators are here. Here, in the palace. I can figure out how they work and how to shut them down.”

She closes her eyes. “All right,” she says, and she grips his hand. “But I will get you out, Ani. I will. I swear.”

“We’ll get everyone out,” he says. “Like we always wanted.”

She nods. “Can I give you a comlink?”

Anakin considers, thinks of what could happen if he were caught with that. “Yeah, I’ll risk it.”

She hands it over; he hides it in his clothes. “Wait for me to com you. That way I’ll be safer.”

“Right.” Padmé takes a deep breath. “Speaking of being safe, we’ve been here a while.”

“Yeah, I should get back.” He cracks the door open, looks both ways. “It’s clear.”

“Take care of yourself,” Padmé tells him.

Anakin nods. “Tell Mom I love her.”

She opens her arms to hug him, but he slips out like he doesn’t notice. The longer he waits, the harder it gets to go back.

But Padmé swore she would get him out, and Anakin swears something, too. As the overseer knocks him down, he swears it; as he pushes himself up, wiping sand from his face, he swears it: this is the last time.

He’s going to shut down the power generators; he’s going to shut down the chips; he’s going to shut down the whole blasted trade.

And when he dies, he’s dying free.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [New Dark Light](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9287108) by [vinrebelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vinrebelle/pseuds/vinrebelle)




End file.
